Make a Finger Guard

Does this happen to you? Okay, so the picture is not very good, but bear with me.

Often when I am tatting for a while the thread wears ridges into my middle or ring fingers, or my pinkie when doing split rings, and that can be painful. I’ve tried those commercial plastic things you slip over your finger, but they never stay in place for long, and the thread never stays on them anyway. So, I made my own finger guard.

I’ve been using this one for years and love it. It stays on my finger, stays in place under the thread no matter which way the thread lays, is easy to put on and take off, and is dirt cheap. Plus, the longer I use it the more comfortable it is!

Here is a little tutorial on how to make your own.

Go to your local craft store and buy a small swatch of craft leather for a couple of bucks, or find some scrap leather around the house.

Take a sharp knife and cut it in roughly this shape:

You don’t need to be too exact, though it may help to trace it on paper first to get the size right for your finger. The wide part in the middle should be about the width of the knuckle you intend to cover. The thinner straps on either side should be about 1/3 the width of the middle and a little less than twice as long as the middle length.

When you cut it out it should look like this:

Then wrap the finger guard around your finger, with the wide part over the knuckle that has all the red ridge marks, and fold the straps around in a simple overhand tie:

The leather will keep itself tied pretty tightly for quite a bit of tatting. I find I have to snug it every half hour or so.

This is what it looks like in action:

I have on occasion used two of these on different fingers at once, such as when doing many split rings, and saved myself a lot of pain.

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12 thoughts on “Make a Finger Guard”

Making my finger guard, also known as a finger extension in my case!! Here’s my story and I’m sticking to it!! elishama3 you’re the best!!!

Well I tried to cut a piece with ‘tails’ as described by elishama3 but the leather of my favorite old navy purse was just too thick. Tie that stuff into a half knot around my finger. It just laughed at me. But this was my favorite leather purse. I’d sleep on it.

The next day I cut a new piece (crunch crunch) you little devil you!! But cutting leather is really fun. Maybe I should become a cobbler. Why should they have all the fun!

Glue?? Nope. Wouldn’t hold very long. I suppose there is leather glue, but this is a free-be so far. Why invest in glue. And how could I get it around my finger and just the right size with sticky glue on it. Let’s try stitches. Eyeless needle, size 20 tatting thread here I come. I’d sew it together with a knot in every stitch. Result below.

Well, the idea worked but that slick thick leather let the thread slide around on it too much. And it was a bit to large for my finger. It slide on a little to far and I need every bit of length that I have left. We’ll sleep on it again. After all, this is a piece of my all time favorite navy blue SAS purse.

Sitting with it on my finger the next day I decided I could solve the problem of the thread falling off my finger by cutting a little slit in the leather. I’d cut out an ever so slender (about 1/16 inch) slit about 1/3 of the way around my new invention. BUT that would defeat the whole idea of protecting my finger from the thread. Well, glancing at the rest of my old treasure (the purse), I cut another piece about the size of the first____just a wee bit smaller___and slipped it inside putting the two suede sides together inside!!

So, now my all time favorite purse is still with me, even when I am tatting!! Thanks you, thank you, thank you!!

Margaret, I hope your granddaughter sticks with it. I learned from my grandmother and it is one of my fondest memories of spending time with her. She is 90 now and isn’t remembering too well anymore, so I will remember for both of us.

I use white medical adhesive tape, just one binding around a finger that needs it. It’s cheap and quick to apply and last for the whole time I am tatting.
It also helps enormously with doing many clunies as it stops the “loom” from loosening on your fingers!